Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-09-24
Tho Fisheries OF Alaska.
The waters of Alaska, both fresh and

The waters Of Alaska, both fresh and
salt, TEEN with fish valuable as food.
oil producers, and fertilizers. The
fresh-water streams are from June
until September crowded with salmon
of excellent quality and trout; OF the
former five and of the latter as many
species. Salmon, too, throng the bays
and inlets, and on every bank IN
Behring Sea. the Gulf Of Alaska, and
throughout the inland waters Goldfish
or hulibut, according to the nature OF
the bottom, are abundant, and in their
seasons immense schools of herring,
smelt, capulin, ~lancetish, and dogish
visit the bays.
There are now about twenty vessels
engaged in codtishing. The principal
fishing grounds are off Fox and Shu-
magin Islands. In this vicinity there
are a number of productive banks,
with water varying in depth from
thirty to sixty fathoms. There is n
bank in the eastern part OF Behring
Sea which has an area of over $4,000
square miles, on which fifty fathoms is
the deepest water that has been found,
and on every portion of which Goldfish
are abundant. In 1879 the schooner
Alfred Adams made three round trips
t"om San Francisco in for~ty-three,
forty-tive, and forty days, bringing on
each occasion $4,000 pounds Of fish.
Bait is abundant and easily obtainable
near the Shumagins.
The in salmon are mex
haustible. Every stream from the
great Yukon, emptying into the south
ern part of Norton Sound and nayi-
gable for / ,S00 miles from its mouth,
to little brooks flowing from melting
glaciers and snow-banks is in its
season crowded with salmon ascend
ing for purposes Of reproduction, and
during these seasons the adjacent bays
and sea are alive with the salmon.
The salmon of Alaska have not been
scientifically classified, but there are
at least five distinct varieties, making
their appearance at different periods.
Early in June a very fine salmon, the
Quinnat, called by the Russians Chow
chou, begins to run; the Kikofi sue
ceeds, and it is followed in July by the
Cressena rebia (red-tlashed), and in
August the Garbosha lhumpbacked)
begins to run and lasts about five
weeks, during which time the Kisch-
utch, or black-mouth, have their
season. The salmon of Alaska caught
in the salt water of the ocean are
superior to those obtained at the fish
cries on the Columbia and other rivers
where they are taken in brackish
waters.
But little endeavor to develop the
halibut fisheries of Alaska has been
made, but it is an established fact that
these fish are SO very abundant and of
such an excellent quality that in time
they will rate high among the resour-
ces Of the country. In this neighbour
hood they can be caught in from five
to twenty fathoms Of water, weighing
from 40 to 500 pounds, and they form
an important portion of the food of
the Indians, who dry and smoke the
flesh. The Indians sell them TO us ut
a rate of about half a cent per pound.
The halibut and cod fisheries of Alaska
are much easier of access and more
free from danger than those on the
eastern coast, and the labor and ex-
pense involved much less. Nearly all
of the fishing banks are near safe har.
bors, where the schooner can lie and
send out the dories, "A short distance to
the grounds. Alaska has, indeed, a
great future in her fisheries, and it is
a wonder to us that Congress spends
SC much time quibbling with England
over those on the east when she owns
and controls far superior ones on the
west.-Juneau (AtaSka) Free Press.